Vehicles having different lateral widths may provide a range of performance attributes and customer interfaces. For example, interior roominess of the passenger compartment is often directly related to the external lateral width of the vehicle. Also, vehicle weight may be affected by the package efficiency or maximization of interior roominess relative to exterior width. Inefficient packaging of structures may reduce the lateral roominess of the passenger compartment for a given vehicle width, and unnecessarily add mass.
Constructing different vehicles having unique components and configurations increases manufacturing complexity. Vehicle manufacturers endeavor to produce a wide array of vehicles providing a range of different aesthetics and sizes. Increasing unique components across different vehicles increases tooling costs and ongoing manufacturing costs related to the complexity.
This disclosure is directed to solving the above problems and other problems as summarized below.